While it might come as a surprise to most people in 2013, this writer does not own a Twitter or Facebook account. His social media presence goes as far as this website. There are a few reasons for this writer to not have either popular accounts, there also has been two more important reasons that have surfaced recently that only strengthen the argument in the first place. There have been verified reports that Instragram and Facebook have asked their users for copies of their driver's licenses, state-issued ids, or birth certificates in order to verify their identity. While this might come as a relief to some who might be victims of slander via fake social media accounts, for the rest of the world it is a big step in the wrong direction. While most people, if they followed the directions, would most likely scan their documentation and email it, this creates a virtual copy of the information that an identity thief would consider a gold mine.
By doing this, one is literally putting themselves in a voluntary situation where they could be used to get credit cards, car loans, or other fraudulent financial funding for anyone else in the world. It could even be used in the event of a crime, and could lead to someone having a false warrant out for their arrest. Facebook and Instragram could very easily come up with a better option than sending such critical documentation over unsecured sources, but again they chose not to do so (assuming that this was considered a cheaper method). Secondly, Facebook recently lost a lawsuit where they were charged with using their user's account information and status updates as forms of advertising without the user's consent. If anyone has received an email about Facebook owing them a payment from a lawsuit, they might want to keep that email and follow up with any instructions.
While it is currently unclear how many users are affected, the lawsuit resulted in a $20 million dollar payout to the victims, so one could get anywhere for a few dollars to several thousand depending on the case. Regardless, the fact that Facebook felt that they had enough sway to use their user's content as advertising without prior acknowledgment shows their arrogance and true face in how much they care about their users. At the end of the day Facebook really doesn't care about anyone or anything else outside of the Almighty Dollar. The more they get, the happier they are. If that requires a few lies and virtual trickery, so be it. Honestly, who wouldn't do what they are doing in their position of power? Who can blame them for trying to make a living through their user's expense? Wasn't that the whole point to begin with?
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